Drive Smart

Filed underGIS

A few months we started partnering with logistics companies, providing them GPS tracking solutions. Most of our device are on trucks that service inter-city logistics. Our platform has been collecting data from several trucks, that travel throughout the country. With this information, we have been able to generate a speed map of Indian roads. The color of a road stretch is the average speed of a truck along that stretch.

A logistics veteran had once told me that in India, trucks are rarely scrapped. They are usually driven to point where the owner thinks it cannot be repaired further. After that the vehicle is abandoned and the driver/owner walks away. You can find corpses of these vehicle rusting away on the roads, more so near transport hubs. The lifetime of the vehicle is determined by owners perception of incremental ROI.

The picture above also shows a deep red around the cities, indicating that the speeds are least in and near the cities. That should not surprise anybody. The congestion around Indian cities is legendary. India has one of lowest road and highest traffic densities in the world.

The environmental and economic impact of slow logistics is quite bad. Slower moving vehicles, mean a higher fuel consumption and a much higher emission problem.